I try to run CS on my new Debian testing system (the 'etch' distribution).When I launch walktest or any other test program (except g2dtest which works perfectly), the system generates the following message then raise a segmentation fault:

WARNING: could not load plugin 'crystalspace.window.x.extf86vm'

The error is most presumably linked to the fact that the X11 client distributed with Debian 'etch' is no more XFree86 and has been replaced by X.org.This is due to the fact that the licence of XFree86 has been changed recently, and do no more fit with the views of the open-source community. In response to that, most of the GNU/Linux distributions such as Debian, Fedora, Slackware, FreeBSD,... have migrated to the X.org X11 client. You can find some info on that via http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/185

A lot of people are using CS on X.org without problem, so that should not specifically be a problem. I don't presently have the code in front of me, but I believe that this building of the 'extf86vm' plugin is controlled by a configure check. Can you look at the output of your configure run to see what it reported for the various X-related checks. If this one fails, look in config.log to see why it failed. At any rate, the lack of this plugin should not cause the program to crash. It would be useful if you could post a backtrace from the debugger showing the actual crash.

Also report what compiler version you are using. There is a known problem, for instance, where gcc 4.0.1 generates buggy code which crashes CS applications.

The lack of the xextf86vm plugin is no more a problem, I simply missed to install the libxxf86vm-dev package, and I'm really sorry about that.

I was also effectively using gcc 4.0.1, and I'm still very sorry about that.So I tried with gcc-3.3 but the problem persists and all applications except g2dtest appears to raise a segfault.

To change the compiler, I installed the version 3.3.6 by using apt-get, then used "export CC=gcc-3.3" to change the compiler to be used, then "configure" and "jam" on a new cvs checkout. The config.log file confirms that gcc-3.3 is used:

I tried to see the backtrace on various applications, all of them were generating a segfault in the csEngine::ShineLights method, while walktest was crashing during csLoader::ParseSector.Here are some backtraces:

Hmm, as I recall, ShineLights() is the function in which the gcc 4.0.1 botch causes a crash, so this looks like the same problem. Some features from the gcc 4.x line are backported to gcc 3.x, including bugs. This may be the case in this instance. It is reported that gcc 4.0.2 and 4.1.x fix the problem. Is it possible for you to try one of those versions?